Max Headroom: Twenty Minutes Into the Future - Imaginos
by ElegantButler
Summary: This story takes place in a universe that branches off from christinaspencer's Max Headroom Dream Warrior universe (which you should check out because she is an awesome writer). Kyle and Christina are borrowed from her with permission. All other characters are the property of Lorimar Telepictures with some names borrowed from Blue Oyster Cult.
1. Chapter 1

Max Headroom: Twenty Minutes into the Future

Imaginos

[Author's Note: Christina Spencer, Kyle Cheviot and the concept of Alters was originally created by fanfic author christinaspencer

who is one of the best authors on . I'd like to thank her for allowing me to use her characters and concepts and

I hope I will do them justice in this story]

[Second Note: the concept of the Imaginos Story is credited to Blue Oyster Cult. And while I will not be using their lyrics, I am borrowing one of their heroes, so I felt that credit should be given where it is due.]

-CHAPTER ONE-

"Anything good in the pipelines?" Edison asked as he walked into Control on Monday morning.

"Live concert," Janie Crane called over to him.

"Oh?" Theora asked. "Where?"

Janie handed him a sheet of paper.

Edison studied the paper. "Imaginos. Tonight at Mind's Eye Theater. One Night Only."

"Who is this Imaginos?" he asked.

Theora looked up the name. "The only references I can find to the name Imaginos are in the lyrics of a couple of old songs from over twenty years ago."

"Nostalgia band," Edison guessed. "Still could be interesting. But why at Mind's Eye?"

"Well, it was an old movie theater," Theora suggested. "Maybe it's for the nostalgia."

"Could be," Edison said. "I just wish Bryce were still here. I bet he'd know about it."

"Are you suggesting I can't find things out, Mr. Carter?" Theora asked in mock-indignation.

"Nah," Edison told her. "I'm just worried about him. Ever since Peller started issuing his anti-alter propaganda on Network 23, Bryce and others like him have had to live in fear for their safety."

"If you want to attend Imaginos, you'd better get your tickets now." Janie told him. "They're selling out very quickly. The few Blanks who can read now are picking up the message and passing it along verbally to those who cannot. That's how I got the flyer I just showed you. It's gone way beyond the Fringes. Whatever it is, it's growing in popularity."

"Theora, get me a ticket," Edison requested.

"Done," Theora said a few minutes later as she handed him the ticket she'd printed out for him. "One ticket to Imaginos."


	2. Chapter 2

-Chapter 2-

Christina handed Kyle a copy of the Imaginos flyer. "What can you tell me about this?"

Kyle looked at the flyer. There was no information on it other than the name Imaginos and the concert time. Still, he could sense something in the flyer that he couldn't explain. It was as if the very sheet of paper were singing an old lullaby to him.

He shook himself and put up his mental shields. "The paper's hypnotic," he warned Christina. "Whoever Imaginos is, they've got very strong mental powers."

"Can you sense who it might be?" Christina asked. "I need to know."

Kyle held the paper to his forehead, like a mentalist in an old-fashioned carnival magic show. After a moment, he frowned and began to concentrate harder, lines forming on his forehead. A moment the lines vanished and he shook his head.

"I can't see them. I need to get closer. I need to go to the show."

"But if they can hypnotize us with just paper, how safe will we be?" Christina asked.

"I can put up a barrier that will protect us both," Kyle assured her. "There's just one problem. If Imaginos is this popular and this dangerous, you can bet Edison Carter will be investigating."

"I can handle Edison Carter," Christina replied, confidently.

The Mind's Eye Theater was packed by the time Christina and Kyle arrived. Christina expected someone to turn and point to them at any second, shouting words of hate and rejection at them. But they were too focused on the sign in the doorway to notice the presence of two alters in their midst.

IMAGINOS. TONIGHT.

That was all it said. But there was a vibration in the lettering that was relaxing to the mind and soothing to the soul. Even Kyle was entranced by it for a moment before he remembered to put up the mental barriers that would protect him and Christina from Imaginos' hypnotic spell.

They found a couple of seats somewhere in the middle of the theater and sat down. Christina spotted Edison sitting to the far left of the cinema. He was speaking into his camera, too far away for her to hear him.

"What is Carter saying?" she asked Kyle.

Kyle focused on Edison. After a moment, he shrugged. "Just reporting on the concert. He doesn't seem to have noticed us."

The lights dimmed and the screen came to life, showing a single white flower at the center, its petals opening and closing in a slow rhythm as it slowly spun in a counterclockwise direction.

"Turn away now from the hate you've been fed

Turn away, turn away before you're all dead

Turn to me now, let the truth guide your way

See the truth, see the truth

Do not look away…

Listen to the music

Listen to the music

Listen to the music of Imaginos"

The petals of the flower opened revealing a single human figure standing upon the pistil, glowing with an intense aura of many colors.

A simple cyber-lullaby

To drive away your hate

A simple cyber-lullaby

To save the world before it is too late.

"Who is it?" Christina asked as she turned to Kyle.

Kyle dove into the mind of Imaginos. And as he did so, another song filled his mind…

"Syndicated stepmother

Run amuck, child!

Run amuck run! Run amuck run!

Run wild.

Syndicated stepmother

Run amuck, child!

Run amuck run! Run amuck run!

Run wild."

Kyle focused harder, he could almost see who it was. Just a little deeper and he'd penetrate the ice around them, and find out.

"Silver-tongued doggy

Barking in the night

Bark dog, bark. Bark dog bark!

Bark wild.

Silver-tongued doggy

Barking in the night

Bark dog, bark. Bark dog bark!

Bark wild!"

Edison didn't know what compelled him to leave his seat. Nor could he remember moving from his spot to where Christina and Kyle were sitting. And if he had been asked, he would swear on a stack of freshly recorded VHS tapes that he did not remember trying to tell Kyle to back off and not get too close to the mind of Imaginos.

But that's exactly what Edison Carter did.

"Stay out of our business, Mr. Carter," Christina warned as Kyle attempted again to find out who it was and what they wanted.

This time, Kyle got past the barrier. He was stunned by what, or rather who, he saw.

"Bryce?!"

The deepest part of Imaginos nodded. Just Bryce Lynch standing there dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a white t-shirt. "Let me fight this war my way."

"I thought you and your girl, Jenny, were long gone."

"Peller and his people will chase us no matter where we go," Bryce told him. "We can't run anymore. Things have changed. I don't want to flee anymore. I want to fight. I want to change this world for the better. I want to change it for the baby."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kyle blinked at Edison and Christina as he emerged from his contact with Imaginos.

"What did you find out?" they both asked.

"Nothing I can tell you right now, Mr. Carter," Kyle said, he put an arm around Christina and led her away.

Edison started to follow them, but Kyle turned and glared at him with such ferocity that he thought it best to back off.

"What did you learn?" Christina reiterated when they were on Kyle's motorcycle and heading back to the small hideout they begrudgingly called home.

"I know who Imaginos is," Kyle told her. "Last person anyone would have expected."

"Oh?" Christina asked. "Tell me."

"Lynch."

"You're kidding me!" Christina said, in astonishment. "Bryce Lynch is Imaginos? But I thought he and Jenny fled the city months ago? They wanted to hide until things with Peller blew over. What changed his mind?"

"Apparently they've got a kid on the way," Kyle told her. "Bryce said he wanted to make the world better for his and Jenny's baby."

Edison sat on the edge of his bed watching a late-night talk show on Network 23 when Max came on screen.

"So.. how was- how was- how was the show?"

"Hypnotic," Edison said. "That Imaginos character is very dangerous, Max. I need to find out who it is and what they want. They were projecting themselves on the big screen in the theater, but I don't know where from. See if you can trace where the signal was coming from."

Max tried to run a trace, but could get no further than the back room of the same building. He tried a couple more times, looking more and more frustrated. Then he finally put his attempts aside and shook his head.

"Nothing. I can't trace it back from any further than the back room."

"The back room? That's the room where Paddy… That's the room that Mind's Eye was conducting their research in." Edison said, quickly changing his statement before he could reopen an old wound. "Imaginos must have been using the telecine machine."

"If Imaginos is an alter and he's filtering his abilities through the telecine machine..." Max began.

"He could manipulate the minds of anyone in the world!" Edison concluded. "How do we find him? Max can you bring up the security files for the telecine room?"

Max brought up the video for the room at the time of the concert. It was very dark and hard to see. As they watched, a shadow could be seen lounging in one of the dream-collector chairs.

"I can't see who it is," Edison said, sounding frustrated.

"No prob!" Max said, cheerfully, as he started to bring up the lights. There was a momentary glimpse, less than a fraction of a second long. Then the camera footage suddenly bleached to pure white, like film from an overexposed brownie camera.

"What the hell happened?" Edison asked. "We had him! Max, did you see who it was? I saw something for a split-second. I know I did."

"I d-d-don't remember," Max admitted. "I can't find any record of it in my mem- my mem- my memory banks. Banks."

"Thanks for trying, Max," Edison told him. "I'll go down there again tomorrow. Maybe I can find a clue at the site. Right now, I'm too tired to do anymore."

Edison climbed into bed and turned off the lights, drifting off to the sounds of Max doing a spiel on Zik Zak's latest products followed by another chat show host who was doing an interview with a celebrity whose voice Edison didn't recognize.


	4. Chapter 4

-Chapter 4

"Morning, Edison," Theora said in a tired-but-cheerful tone.

"I'm going to the Fringes," Edison told her as Murray joined them.

"The Blanks got something ratings-worthy going on?" he asked. "You know Cheviot's still furious about Bryce going awol. He's put a tight leash on the rest of our team. We need to find him before we do anything else."

"I'm just as worried about Bryce as you are," Edison argued. "But this Imaginos character could be extremely dangerous. We need to find out what they're up to and why."

"We can't reach Imaginos," Theora told him. "We have no idea who they are so there's no way to track them down."

"Kyle Cheviot spoke to Imaginos." Edison told her. "If we can track him down, I might be able to get enough information about Imaginos to track them down."

Theora turned to her computer and began the search.

"Nothing," she said.

"Murray. Why don't you talk to Cheviot?" Edison suggested. "Maybe he can tell us what Kyle's habits are."

"More likely he'll tell us to keep focused on the assignments he's giving us." Murray pointed out.

"I don't like the assignments he's trying to make us do," Edison told him. "That's why I've been doing so many filler stories. The big ones are not to my liking at all. Peller's an ugly-minded bigot. And Cheviot is selling out his own blood by sponsoring him."

"I'll check his movements from the past week with the city sat-cam," Theora said as she turned to her computer and began typing in the access codes. "Maybe we can establish a pattern of activity with that."

"Good thinking," Edison told her.

A moment later, Theora looked up. "Got it. He meets with a couple friends of his at the ouzo bar on Wednesdays at 3pm."

"That's in fifteen minutes," Edison said, rushing out of the room with his camera clutched firmly in one hand. "Tell Martinez to be ready to go in two minutes." He added as the door closed behind him.

"I don't get it," Murray said. "Who is this Imaginos? And why is Edison so keen on tracking down whoever it is?"

"We don't know who it is," Theora said. "But last night, Imaginos hypnotized Edison."

Murray looked at her with worry. "Edison didn't do anything that would ruin this network's reputation, did he?"

"No," Theora said. "Imaginos just tried to use Edison as a messenger boy."

"So, Edison wants Imaginos to answer for what they've done," Murray guessed.

Edison frowned on-screen from his place in the chopper next to Martinez. "I want to make sure this Imaginos doesn't try to take over the city with some mass-hypnosis. If he's trying to raise some kind of army against either Peller or the alters, its going to cause a world of headaches for everyone."

"Edison, I have you at 2 minutes ETA from target destination," Theora told him.

"Wish me luck, Theora," Edison said. "I just hope Imaginos hasn't given the kid any additional programming."

"You mean post-hypnotic suggestion," Theora agreed. "I'm turning on the voice-print analyzer. That should tell me if he's being influenced by any kind of mind control."

Edison walked into the ouzo bar. After looking around for a few minutes, he spotted Kyle who was sitting in a booth at the left side of the room along with Christina and two others whom Edison guessed were also mutants.

He went over to them and put a hand on Kyle's shoulder. Kyle stood up and threw a punch at Edison. But Edison was a seasoned reporter and had been in more than his fair share of fights, so he caught the fist easily.

"I just want to ask you a couple of questions," Edison said, keeping a firm grip of Kyle's fist.

"I'm not telling you anything," Kyle told him. "You work for the hatemonger Peller."

"I don't support Simon Peller," Edison told him. "The network I work for sponsors him, but I think he's one of the biggest jerks in the universe."

"Careful Edison," Murray muttered back at control as he heard his reporter's opinion of the network's pet politician.

At the ouzo bar, Edison had released his grip on Kyle's fist. "I just want to know who Imaginos is."

"I will not betray Imaginos," Kyle said, in a firm and strong tone. "Imaginos fights for the Alters. All I will tell you is that he's not a danger to you or anyone else. He's just a young father who wants a better world for his kid. That's all I can say."

"Is he raising an army? What does he plan to accomplish with his mass hypnosis sessions?" Edison's voice was tense with worry. Some might see a concerned parent as no threat, but if Imaginos was like a lioness protecting her cubs, parenthood would make him more dangerous, not less so.

"Near as I can tell, he only planned the one session. Perhaps he thinks it's enough." Kyle shrugged.

"How can once be enough?" Edison asked.

"If the message reached the right people last night," Christina told him, "it will be enough."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Jenny watched the security cameras Bryce had installed when they'd first moved into the lower carpark of the abandoned mall just outside of town.

Both she and Bryce wished they could live in a nicer home. They had the money for it. But buying a nice home would leave a paper trail neither of them could afford to. Especially with a new baby on the way.

Normally Jenny would've been overjoyed at learning she was carrying Bryce's child. She'd had feelings for him since they'd been at school together. It had just been a kid's crush back then, of course. And she'd told herself when they graduated that she'd get over him in time. But that hadn't happened. If anything, she'd grown to love him even more. And it had hurt when she had come to the realization that he would probably always been too technologically-minded to love her back.

Then the revelation had come. The sudden knowledge that they were not normal human beings like everyone else. That someone had experimented on them in the womb, turning them into mutants, or alters as they and others like them called themselves.

The shock had been painful, but nowhere near as painful as the barrage of hatred that Simon Peller had unleashed upon them.

Christina Spencer, a girl who had been hired to work as Bryce's partner, had been abducted and forcibly sterilized. And there had been threats to do the same to the other alters, including Jenny and Bryce.

They had escaped along with many others a few months ago and had found this abandoned mall. The above-ground structure was shot to hell, but the lower levels of the garage were sound enough for a dwelling. They didn't know where the others went, and that was okay by Jenny. As long as she and Bryce were safe.

It had been seven weeks into their cohabitation when Jenny had realized she was late. She had been pondering whether or not she might be pregnant a few days later still when she heard, in her mind, the beating of a baby's heart. Opening her eyes, she had turned to Bryce, who was keeping himself occupied with improving their home's electrical system, which was drawing energy from the grid at a low enough rate to not be detected or charged.

"Bryce," she had told him, putting a hand on his arm. "Come over here for a moment. I need to speak to you."

His reaction hadn't been what she'd expected. She thought he might faint, or run away. That's what teenaged boys did when they found out they were going to be fathers. But Bryce's reaction had been quite different.

"It's time to make a stand," she'd caught him saying in the mirror. "A family with a baby cannot run all over the world. It's not good for Jenny and it's not good for Traci or Jayson either."

"I think Alice is a nicer name that Traci," she had told him.

"If you like, Bryce replied. "But Jayson stays."

"We'll see," Jenny had replied. "What are you going to do?"

Bryce considered his answer for a moment. Then he smiled at Jenny. "I'm going to show everyone the way the world was before the last big war. I'm going to show them how we lived before the megacorps took control and TV networks became dictatorships. I'm going to show them what they lost by letting others think for them in the name of peace. And then I'm going to show them what they will lose by letting others think for them in the name of conformity."

"Will that work?" Jenny asked.

"Not right away," Bryce said. "Right now they're like fans at a scumball game. They're hyped up on Peller's speeches with all his angry shouting. He'd got them on the verbal equivalent of a video narcotic. Before I can approach them with peaceful persuasion, I need to effectively calm them down."

"Like quieting a child who's having a tantrum."

Bryce nodded to Jenny. "Exactly! Any parent or child with younger siblings knows that if you don't calm the kid down first, he won't listen when you try to talk to him. Mind's Eye will be the best place to do it. I can use the telecine machine to project my message directly from my mind."

"When are we going?" Jenny had asked.

"Not we. I," Bryce told her. "I don't want you anywhere near the city until Peller's no longer in power. I don't want to risk losing either of you. If Peller finds out you're expecting…" Bryce turned away, an agonized look on his face. "I don't even want to think about it."

Now, several weeks later, Jenny was waiting to hear from Bryce, to find out if his weeks of preparations had paid off.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Bryce kept the hood of his cloak low as he climbed into the back of Rik's transport. So he did not see Edison already sitting there. He noticed the vidicam on the floor, but did not climb back down. That, he decided, would make Edison suspicious.

"Hello," Edison said.

Bryce focused his abilities, changing his facial features into those of an old woman. Looking up, he squinted at Edison, leaning closer as if to see who he was.

"Have you ever heard of Imaginos?" Edison asked. It was a long shot. He didn't think anyone over forty would be watching such things. But it was possible this woman might have gone with a grandchild as a chaperone. Unlikely, but possible.

"Who?" Bryce asked in a convincingly tremulous elderly voice.

"Never mind," Edison shook his head.

"Why is such a nice young man like yourself wasting your time going to such an awful place?" Bryce asked, deciding to play it up. He missed talking to Edison, and if this is what it took, he'd live with it.

"The Fringes aren't so bad," Edison told him. "There are lots of nice people there. Reg and Dom…"

"I meant Network 23," Bryce cut him off. "You're a nice young man. You shouldn't be associating with people like that."

"Murray and Theora aren't bad people," Edison replied. "And Janie and Angie are good folks as well."

"I'm sure everyone in Control is very nice."

"How did you know they were in Control?" Edison demanded.

Bryce was taken aback at his blunder for a moment, then it came to him.

"That nice man, Paddy, used to talk about them."

Edison nodded. "You knew Paddy Ashton?"

"Not very well," Bryce told him. "I went to the same pub he used to frequent and often times he'd sit in a booth not far from mine. So I'd hear bits of his conversation."

"Whatever he said about me…" Edison began.

"The way he talked about you, you'd think you were his older brother," Bryce shrugged, lowering his head once more.

Edison got the feeling the old woman didn't want to talk anymore. Deciding she was probably taking a short nap, he turned Rik as they approached the Network.

"You think she's right?" he asked.

"Only you can decide that," Rik told him. "The question isn't whether that old lady's got a point, the question is, what can you live with."

Edison spotted Big Time TV. "I think I need to speak to a good friend," he said, hopping out of the slowly moving pedicab and running toward the pink microbus.

Focused on what lay before him, he did not see the dark-eyed buzzard shake itself loose from the folds of the old woman's robes and take off, circling high overhead.


	7. Chapter 7

-Chapter 7-

Jenny hated staying home alone while Bryce was off fighting on her behalf. She knew she couldn't go to the city. It was too risky for both her and the baby. But she didn't want to stay indoors doing nothing all the time either.

She decided it would be safe for her to walk along the River to the food stall to get what they needed for dinner. Bryce had promised he would pick up the food on the way home. But Jenny was restless. Besides, she reasoned, if she got the food now, she could prepare a nice dinner for him to come home to. And if he was late, she could just take it off the stove so it wouldn't burn and reheat it when he got home.

It was still light out when she arrived at the market stall. There were fresh meats in the coolers and the display tables were laden with fruits and vegetables. It wouldn't last. The ground in this place was not polluted as it had been in the city, and it was still possible to grow things here. But the crops only came twice a year, so it was necessary for those who benefited from it to buy sparingly so that others could have some, too.

Jenny picked out a couple carrots, a large potato, and a medium sized cut of meat that looked like it would be just big enough for her to split with Bryce. She was in line at the register when a hand gripped her by the wrist.

Turning, she saw a man she recognized. Anger filled her eyes as she glared at him.

"Gene Ashwell," she spat.

Ashwell smiled at her. "Tell me where Bryce Lynch is," he said, his voice as oily as a cartoon snake's. "You know where he is. I know you do."

"Bryce and I parted company a week ago," Jenny lied, trying to pull free. "I have no idea where he is!"

"Really?" Ashwell looked at the basket she was holding. "Isn't that an awful lot for one person."

"I got another roommate," Jenny explained, trying even harder to free herself. "it's cheaper to share accommodations."

"Well, I guess your roommate will have to dine alone tonight," Ashwell told her as he produced a syringe from his pocket.

Jenny renewed her struggles. She had no idea what was in the needle, nor what it would do to the child she carried.

Ashwell noticed her increased attempts at freeing herself and turned her to face him. "Is there some reason you're so afraid of this little knock-out drug?"

Jenny turned her head, not daring to look him in the eye.

"I see…" Ashwell leered. "So, there's a new little freak growing inside you. Well, don't worry, dear. We'll take care of that problem just as soon as we can. If this doesn't do the trick, I'm sure the doctors at the med center can."

A tear fell down Jenny's cheek as she felt the needle pierce her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Jayson… or Windy… I'm so sorry..." she whispered as the darkness claimed her.

Buzzardo reached his makeshift domicile. Stretching out his neck and wings, he transformed back into his human form.

"Jenny," Bryce called as he ran down the rampway that led to the level their home was on. "Jenny, I'm sorry I'm late… I…"

He froze. There was no sign of Jenny.

"Jenny?!" he kept calling as he searched every part of the old car park.

Unable to find her, began to panic. Then it dawned on him.

"The market!" he exclaimed as he dashed out of the house, taking flight as soon as he could see the sky.

He reformed back into human form around the corner so that no one would see what he was. Then he pushed his way through the line, asking each person he pushed aside if they'd seen Jenny.

No one had. Not until he reached a middle-aged woman with a small harelip and a little bit of chin-stubble.

"If you're looking for that pretty girl that was here fifteen minutes ago, some guy took off with her."

"Where did he take her?" Bryce asked, breathlessly.

"Hospital… poor little thing. I like her. That man wanted to know where her friend was and she wouldn't rat the guy out."

"Yeah…" Bryce agreed. "I like her, too. Was this guy in a car?"

"White Mercedes,"

"Network 23 car," Bryce realized. "Goddamn them! Which med center did he go to?"

"I don't know," the woman told him. "He drove south."

Bryce ran off in the same direction. As soon as he was in the shadows of the ruined buildings that lined the river, he took bird form again and Buzzardo was airborne once more.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Edison paused at the entrance to Network 23 to adjust his vidicam. He was in the middle of cleaning the lens when he heard a familiar voice.

"Mr. Carter."

It was the old lady he'd shared a pedicab ride with.

"Afternoon, ma'am," he muttered, glancing up before resuming his work.

"You asked me the other day about Bryce Lynch."

That got Edison's attention. "Have you seen him?"

The old woman nodded. "I can take you to him," she told him.

Edison turned to his vidicam. "Theora, I'm going with Mrs… Miss…."

"Mnemosyne," she told him, as they began to walk in the direction of the fringes.

After about two blocks, Mnemosyne stopped at the door of an old building.

"We're here, Mr. Carter," she told him.

"In there?" Edison asked, nodding toward the door.

Without replying, Mnemosyne walked through it.

Edison followed. He looked around. Other than the two of them, the room was empty.

"He must have left," he decided.

"No, Mr. Carter," the old lady said. Her body shifted and shimmered and a moment later, Bryce was standing there in her place. "I'm right here."

Edison nearly dropped his vidicam.

"Edison," Bryce continued, "I need your help. They took Jenny. She's already at the hospital. I hacked the medcenter computer and they've got her scheduled for an abortion and sterilization. I can't let that happen. I'm going to break her out of there, but I need you to set up a diversion."

Edison nodded. "I'll do what I can."

"Thanks, Edison," Bryce said, gratefully.

Edison looked into his camera, " Theora…"

"Right here, Edison," Theora replied. "tell Bryce we'll all help."

"Theora says she's willing to help," Edison told his friend. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, Edison," Bryce replied as they went back outside.

They met up with Martinez a block away in the Network 23 chopper.

"This is gonna be fun," he told them as the made their approach to the medcenter helipad. "Just like flying back in the war."

They were met by a contingency of about 8 security guards.

Edison and Martinez took on a number of guards in a fist-fight while Bryce transfigured into Buzzardo and began swooping at them. He landed on one guard and gave the man a nasty peck to the face, leaving a deep gash in his cheek before flying off, uncontested by the other guards who did not wish a similar fate.

Buzzardo flew into the still-open helipad door and down the stairwell until he reached the floor where the patients' rooms began.

Edison joined him a moment later.

"Theora, find out which room Jenny's being held in."

"Got it," Theora said after a moment. "Room 241. Two floors down. But she's already being taken to treatment. Room 304."

"Room 304, next floor down," Edison told the bird which flew down the stairwell before transmuting back into Bryce Lynch.

"I'll never get used to that," Edison said as he ran down the stairs.

"Please don't do this," Jenny begged as the nurse filled the syringe and approached her with it. "No… that's too much. You'll kill me."

"This isn't anaesthetic, dear," the nurse explained. "It's just a saline solution for the fetus. We need to get it out before we perform your hysterectomy."

"NO!" Jenny screamed, as the two other nurses held her wrists and ankles.

"Your kind really shouldn't be reproducing, you know," one of them told her in a sickly-sweet voice. "It's really not good for society."

The nurse pushed the needle into Jenny's abdomen and pushed the plunger in just as the door flew open.

Jenny didn't notice any of it, as the contractions of her miscarriage began. Sobbing, screaming, she could only look at the blurred tiles of the ceiling above her.

Bryce saw the blood, then he saw red. A moment later, he was Buzzardo again, landing on the nurse who had killed his child and pecking savagely at her face.

Edison ran in.

"Bryce!" he cried out. "Stop! Take Jenny and get her out of here. Go to Theora's house. I'll deal with the rest of these monsters!"

The bird stopped and transformed. Bryce glared at Edison with a murderous expression on his young face. "They killed my child, Edison." he said, his voice filled with anger and hate.

He heard Jenny's sobs and turned his attention to her, his face softening into a look of helpless grief as he took her in his arms, crying along with her for several minutes.

Edison turned to his vidicam. "Theora," he said, his voice full of grief and sympathy for his stricken friends. "Tell Cheviot I quit. I will not be associated with any network whose pet politician is responsible for this sort of thing."

"I'll inform him when I hand in my resignation," Theora replied. "I'll see you at my place in half an hour."

Bryce knew Jenny couldn't walk in her condition, so he transformed himself into a small Friesian horse.

Edison placed Jenny on the horse's back and the three of them made their way back to the helipad.

"Theora's house," Edison said, as he carried Jenny to the chopper, allowing Bryce to resume human form and get into the transport with them.

Martinez looked sadly at Jenny.

"We were too late, weren't we?"

"We were too late to save this baby," Edison told him. "But not too late to save future generations. And we will save them. Whatever it takes, we will save them."

Bryce and Jenny wept as they held each other while the chopper lifted off.

Watching them, Edison felt a great deal of grief for his young friends, and an even greater level of hatred for Simon Peller.


End file.
